I like dogs too much to want them kept out of my space, as long as they stay OFF my gear and use the Porta Pootes. But you have the right to a zone free of unleashed or untrained dogs if thats your preference, and no one but the owner should have to put up with dog crap or legs raised on anything worse than a tree.

Some suggestions, in off-the-cuff order of escalation:

Tell it ,No, and shoo it away. Thats will actually work on a few well-behaved dogs.

Tell the owner,NO, and ask, then tell him or her to keep it away.

Get some spray and use it. A dab of ammonia in a squirt bottle of water works very well on dogs; it might take something more noxious to work well on an irresponsible owner. Maybe spraying a cheap pefume, say $1.00 a quart at WalMart, might persuade an owner who wont respond to words to behave.

Beyond the ammomnia spray on the dog, I;dturn my efforts to the owner. It isnt the dogs fault, so Id not hurt a harmless dog (keyword: harmless; I have threatened two owners with getting out my .357 after being asaulted by their dogs).

Owner-behavioral training ideas include smearing the dogs own crap (or any crap I could find or generate) all over the dog; the dog would love it, the owner would not.

If the owner will not pick up the dogs crap, throw it on the owners gear, car-seat, shirt, or lunch. Its just crap; itll wash off your hands if you have no rubber gloves or plastic bags. Openly or surreptitiously (depending on their size and their response to verbal appeals), they get the message.

A lady had a big dog on a leash at Home Valley once, among a dense mob of sailors and kids in the park. She told people, Look out, my dog bites as she wandered around among toddlers and bigger children and adults stooping to rig. As I watched the 90-pound dogs canine teeth sink into my forearm up past its gums, it felt like a small car had parked on my arm. The lady told the dog, Bad Dog; stop that. When the dog finished (I sure as hell wasnt going to pull away while his teeth were in my forearm), I stood up, got in her face, and told her that if the dog was still in sight after I got my gun from my van, the dog would die. She was shocked that I would hurt her dog, but she did leave very quickly. After driving to a hospital for treatment, I repored the bite to the police there and in her home state. The worst past of that whole incident was having to watch everyone else sail 3.2s at Rufus the next day, because the doctor said my arm was in serious danger of deep infection if I didnt keep it out of the river for a few days.

I still welcome well-behaved pooches on the river (except at the Hatchery), and most of them that are loose seem to be well-behaved. I have far more gripes with human buttholes than with canine ones.

It is never the dogs fault. It is always the owners lack of respect, either for the dog or other people. I very much like dogs and I believe they should be allowed anywhere humans are. However, dogs need to be trained. A trained dog is a happy dog because it doesnt get into trouble. Mace the owners.

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forumYou can attach files in this forumYou can download files in this forum